Reception and legacy
The arcade game was popular in Europe and Japan. At the end of 1981, Centuri reported revenues of USD$61.4 million with a profit of 7.5 million. In comparison, the company's previous year gross was $5.9 million with a loss of $4.5 million. Phoenix was the best selling of Centuri's titles by 1982. The Atari 2600 version sold over 600,000 units.
The Video Game Update referred to the Atari 2600 adaptation as a good translation of the arcade classic. In Electronic Games, Bill Kunkel and Arnie Katz wrote that the game was favorably compared to other Atari 2600 releases such as Vanguard, Yars' Revenge (1982), and Demons to Diamonds (1982), noting the quality in graphics and control, and stating it "is perhaps the finest invasion title ever produced for the 2600!" Noel Steere of Electronic Fun with Computers and Games praised the game, stating it was a "perfect arcade adaptation" with beautiful sound, which made up "for the sin of Pac-Man". The game received a Certificate of Merit in the category of "1984 Best Science Fiction / Fantasy Videogame" at the 5th annual Arkie Awards. Some critics compared the game to Imagic's Demon Attack. Jim Gorzelany of JoyStik found that the gameplay and challenge was too watered down compared to the original arcade game and Imagic's game. Phil Wiswell of Video Games found that Atari's versions of both Phoenix showcased that Atari could still make both fun and graphically appealing games, while finding the game still suffered in comparison to the Intellivision release of Demon Attack. An anonymous reviewer in Blip magazine concurred that the Intellivision version of Demon Attack was superior, but found that final battle with the mothership in Phoenix allowed Atari's game to stand on its own.
In a retrospective review from AllGame, critic Brett Alan Weiss described the arcade version as a "one of the most impressive games the "slide-and-shoot" genre has to offer, bested only by Galaga (1981) in terms of sheer enjoyment and replayability" and said that "finely balanced" shooting action combined with "colorfully" animated graphics made Phoenix a classic in shooter genre. In his book The Video Game Guide (2013), Matt Fox compared the arcade game to Galaxian (1979), stating that Phoenix took its gameplay "a few screens further". Chris Wilkins of Eurogamer complimented the arcade game for expanding the gameplay of the shooter genre, specifically with the boss character and that the game was addictive as it "never fails to invoke the "one more go" desire in the player." In 1995, Flux magazine ranked the arcade version of Phoenix at #69 on their list of "Top 100 Video Games", saying that it was one of the better Space Invaders variations. Discussing the game in Retro Gamer, Nick Thorpe compared the game to Space Invaders, finding Phoenix "considerably advanced" due to its difficulty to predict behaviors of enemies and final boss fight while also noting that it lacked some elements from modern shooters, such as power-ups and a larger enemy variety.
Weiss included the Atari 2600 port of Phoenix in his book The 100 Greatest Console Video Games 1977-1987 (2014). He wrote that the Atari port had rich graphics, crisp sound and excellent gameplay, preserving the feel of original arcade game. Retro Gamer included the Atari 2600 port of the game in their list of the top 25 games for the system in 2008.
Phoenix was one of the first shooter games to have a boss battle. Bosses would come to typify the shooter genre following the release of the game. Games that borrowed elements from Phoenix include Space Vultures, Gorf (1981), Pleiades (1981), and Condor Attack (1983). Bootleg versions of Phoenix were released in arcades as Condor, Griffon, Vautour, and Batman Part 2.
